Whenever i see the community's reverance for the emperor especially when it comes to discussion of the lore I always find myself feeling as though their is something I am missing with regard to his character. People both within the fiction and the fandom hold him in such high regard which baffles me, the idea of a hyper-intelligent psychic with dreams of a unified humanity is an interesting template for a central character but i feel like they kinda skimped on making him come across as extremely capable.

Sure he makes a lot of things and is powerful but his plans are often extremely shortsighted in a way you wouldn't expect a millennia-old psychic being to be. Hes obstinant, arrogant, shortsighted and heavy handed with the amount he's had to hone is craft and plot he isn't this master manipulator nor does he have the amount of contingencies in place for the potentially catastrophic events that eventually come to pass (the scattering, war with the men of iron, Magnus's curiosity, Perts loyalty the horus heresy in general etc.) Like if big E is this all-knowing sociopath wouldn't he have installed some form of kill switch in the Primarchs just in case something like that happened?

Wouldnt he understand that his sons have human emotions and need to, at the very least, be placated if they are to remain loyal until he can decide what it is he wants to do with them? Some of the things he does don't come across as moves in some infinitely complicated plan because he's constantly being undermined in his efforts. I guess a part of this is the way the books are written since they love their air of mystery regarding character motivations to keep some suspense even if it isn't entirely necessary to do so, but I've never been a fan of selectively telling the reader details or repeatedly paving over old books with new ones cause it just comes across as disjointed rather than interesting. But that's a larger problem with the lore rather than just his character.

But us as the audience should be able to understand what his plan is and what means he wishes to use to accomplish it but it his actions and motivations don't always line up or make sense. His dream for a rational hyper-advanced society runs counter to how he went about showing himself to the public, don't dress like a god if you don't want to be worshiped dummy so I am always at a loss with him he just seems haphazardly thrown together.